Arson Suspect May Have Killed Wife, 2 Children, Self
A Northern California man who authorities believe may have committed suicide in Yosemite National Park after starting a 2,000-acre blaze there may also have killed his wife and daughter, police said Sunday.
Michelle Celebrini, 32, was found dead in her home in Brentwood Saturday morning along with her daughter, Nina Celebrini, 7, and another child, Samantha Foutch, 9.
Police in Brentwood, which is about 50 miles east of San Francisco, said they had “probable cause” to believe that Richard Celebrini was responsible. They did not say what their reasoning was or how the woman and children died.
On Saturday afternoon, Brentwood police say they were notified by the U.S. Department of Forestry that they had found a man dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Yosemite, and had tentatively identified him as Richard Celebrini. He matched the description of a man visitors said was lighting fires and brandishing a gun on a hiking trail in the Hetch Hetchy basin.
A steady rain had doused the fire by Sunday afternoon.
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